LATEST ISSUE

In this special retrofit issue we launch our new RetroFirst campaign championing reuse in the built environment. We also announce the winners of the AJ Retrofit Awards 2019 covering 18 different categories; as well as building studies of two retrofit projects: Orms’ conversion of council offices into a hotel in Camden, north London; and Flower Michelin Architects’ Shingle House renovation and extension of a seaside ...

This is a detail I think about every time I return home to the Black House, whose entrance was designed after visiting this building.

The chapel at Sumvitg is exquisite, and rich in meaning for such an apparently simple building. It’s tiny; a village chapel. It has the familiar feeling of many simple parish chapels, with a single space, benches facing an altar table, but every detail is designed to make the experience of the chapel richer and more meaningful.

Mole black house

The Black House by Mole Architects

The entry is beautifully thought through; a cast block of concrete is anchored to the ground, and sits beside the wooden chapel. It has five steps and a platform, and the visitor is guided by the finest of steel rails. The fragility of these is noted as we ascend. The door is extended from the body of the church, the thin copper roof extending to form the drip. The smooth timber cheeks of the doorway contrast with the rough shingle skin, and taper to a fine edge. Within this opening a finely slatted door contrasts with a steel handle that looks to be forged rather than cast, conveying a sense of centuries of entry to this place of worship; the building replaces a previous chapel destroyed by an avalanche.

The moment of entry is completed as we step off the concrete, on to the wooden platform, while grasping the handle and swinging open the door. We are leaving terra firma and entering the ark.

Meredith Bowles is founder of Mole Architects. Meredith recently spoke at the launch of the 2017 AJ Small Projects Awards, which are open for entry

The AJ supports the architecture industry on a daily basiswith in-depth news analysis, insight into issues that are affecting the industry, comprehensive building studies with technical details and drawings, client profiles, competition updates as well as letting you know who’s won what and why.